Wider Panama Canal threatens transcontinental road and rail
NOW that the expanded Panama Canal can handle nearly triple the cargo it could before, transcontinental rail and road freight is under threat, reports Alabama's Commercial Carrier Journal.
The threat is likely to come from container traffic moving from ports on the US west coast to Houston, Savannah, Norfolk and the port of New York and New Jersey.
"The shift won't be immediate, but it will happen sooner rather than later," said trucker Danny McComas, of MCO Transport, a Wilmington, North Carolina-based container drayage company.
But it is all good news for ocean carriers. "The expansion provides us with more options, most notably to our Asia to South America and Asia to US east coast routes," said Maersk's network chief Anders Boenaes.
"It is likely that Maersk Line will make increased use of the expanded Panama Canal and adjust one or more services with larger vessels to begin sailing through its new locks," said Mr Boenaes.
Any migration of eastbound container traffic from west coast to east coast would result in less rail and long-haul truck services and increase those services along the eastern US seaboard, said the report.
Sixty per cent of container traffic through the canal either originated from or is destined for east coast ports, and even a 10 per cent shift to the all-water route would have a major impact on freight patterns," it said.
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